Draft Genome Sequence Resource of Erwinia sp. Strain INIA01, a Phytopathogen Isolated from a Diseased Stalk of Peruvian Maize.

Here, we report the complete genome sequence of Erwinia sp. strain INIA01, a bacterium isolated from lesions of Zea mays from northern Peru. This genome possesses two circular replicons, a 4.2-Mb chromosome, and a 438-kb plasmid.

Analysis of the Safety of Drug Allergy Workups in a Spanish University Hospital: Drug Characteristics, Type of Reaction, and Patients' Age at the Initial Assessment.

INTRODUCTION: The drug provocation test (DPT) is the gold standard for the drug allergy workup; however, it is not free from severe adverse reactions. Our aim was to obtain robust data that predict a reaction during or after the DPT at the first contact with the patient in the allergy outpatient clinic. METHODS: The population of this cross-sectional study comprised all patients undergoing a drug allergy workup (clinical assessment, specific IgE, or skin tests, or DPT) at University Hospital Fundacion Alcorcon in 2016. DPTs were performed until therapeutic doses were reached, and late reactions were checked. The clinical disorders assessed in our study were classified mainly as absence of allergic reactions, morbilliform rash, urticaria, anaphylaxis, and other cutaneous disorders. RESULTS: Physicians from the Allergy Unit programmed drug allergy workups in 977 patients (median age, 52 years; women, 64.54%). DPTs were not performed for 165 drugs involved in the reactions. Patients who did not undergo DPT were older than patients who did (positive or negative) (p = 0.0001). Positive DPT results were detected in 6.00% of DPTs performed, and most were for amoxicillin and metamizole (15-25% each). Multinomial logistic regression showed that positive reactions were more probable after DPT if the same clinical disorder was diagnosed at the first visit, including the episodes not considered allergic episodes (OR = 0.2, <0.01), except for anaphylaxis, which favored not performing DPTs (OR = 11, p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: We conclude that clinical practice in the diagnosis of drug allergy in our Allergy Department is safe, without over-diagnosis.

Baby Killers: Documentation and Evolution of Scuttle Fly (Diptera: Phoridae) Parasitism of Ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) Brood.

BACKGROUND: Numerous well-documented associations occur among species of scuttle flies (Diptera: Phoridae) and ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), but examples of brood parasitism are rare and the mechanisms of parasitism often remain unsubstantiated. NEW INFORMATION: We present two video-documented examples of ant brood (larvae and pupae) parasitism by scuttle flies. In footage from Estação Biológica de Boracéia in Brazil, adult females of Ceratoconus setipennis Borgmeier can be seen attacking workers of Linepithema humile (Mayr) species group while they are carrying brood, and ovipositing directly onto brood in the nest. In another remarkable example, footage from the Soltis Center, near Peñas Blancas in Costa Rica, shows adult females of an unidentified species of the Apocephalus grandipalpus Borgmeier group mounting Pheidole Westwood brood upside-down and ovipositing while the brood are being transported by workers. Analysis of evolutionary relationships (in preparation) among Apocephalus Coquillett species shows that this is a newly derived behavior within the genus, as the A. grandipalpus group arises within a group of adult ant parasitoids. In contrast, relationships of Ceratoconus Borgmeier have not been studied, and the lifestyles of the other species in the genus are largely unknown.

A second species, and first Central American record, of the phorid fly genus Lenkoa Borgmeier (Diptera: Phoridae).

A second species, and first Central American record, of the phorid fly genus Lenkoa Borgmeier (Diptera: Phoridae).        Many species of phorid flies have wingless or brachypterous females. Mostly, they belong to a group classified within the subfamily Metopininae corresponding to the Metopina group of genera of Brown (1992a) or the tribe Metopinini of Disney (2003, not 1987). The males of this group are much more typical in appearance, with well-developed wings, larger eyes, and fully developed abdominal tergites. These males carry females during a mating flight, often dispersing them to new breeding sites (Miller 1984). Generally, the sexual dimorphism is so great that the sexes cannot be confidently associated unless they are collected in copula. This has led to a profusion of species being described as males and females in separate genera. Some of these brachypterous females, both within the Metopinini and elsewhere in other Phoridae, have been correctly associated with their males when they are found together (e.g., Brown 1986, 1992b, 1994), but many remain unassociated.

Extravagant female sexual display in a Megaselia Rondani species (Diptera: Phoridae).

The behavior of females of a species of Megaselia is described. Females perch on leaves and occasionally "dance", fluttering their wings while rapidly running on the leaf surface. During this dance, they evert bright white abdominal sacs that apparently constitute part of a visual display to attract males. The evolutionary basis of these behaviors is discussed.

A new type of ant-decapitation in the Phoridae (Insecta: Diptera).

The genus Dohrniphora is a hyperdiverse group of phorid flies, a family whose species are commonly characterized as generalized scavengers. The lifestyle of most species of Dohrniphora is unknown, although one cosmopolitan, synanthropic species, D.cornuta (Bigot) fits the general scavenger mold. Here we show that flies of the D.longirostrata species group exhibit highly specific "headhunting" behavior in which injured Odontomachus ants are decapitated, the heads dragged away, and females either feed on their contents or lay an egg nearby. Since most females studied lacked eggs in their ovaries, we conclude that this bizarrely specialized feeding is necessary to provide nutrients for reproduction in these flies. Our study provides further evidence that injured ants are a common, stable resource in tropical ecosystems that support a wide array of phorid flies. Such narrowly constrained lifestyles, as exemplified by exclusively feeding on and breeding in the head contents of certain ponerine worker ants, could allow the co-existence of a huge community of saprophagous flies.

An open-label, double tympanocentesis, single-center study of trimethoprim sulfametoxasole in children with acute otitis media.

Trimethoprim sulfamethoxasole has been recommended for the treatment of acute otitis media. In this double tympanocentesis study, children aged 3 to 48 months with acute otitis media received trimethoprim sulfamethoxasole twice daily (40 mg/kg/d) for 10 days. All children had a baseline tympanocentesis and in culture-positive children, tympanocentesis was repeated at the on-therapy visit. Of 89 children enrolled, 51 (57%) were clinically and bacteriologically evaluable. Bacteriologic eradication was achieved in 80% (42 of 52) of children, and overall clinical response at the end of therapy was 78%. Clinical success was 69% for culture-positive children versus 91% for culture-negative children at baseline tympanocentesis (P = 0.03). In this study, trimethoprim sulfamethoxasole clinical response was unsatisfactory, especially among culture-'positive children.

In vitro activities of levofloxacin and comparable agents against middle ear fluid, nasopharyngeal, and oropharyngeal pathogens obtained from Costa Rican children with recurrent otitis media or failing other antibiotic therapy.

This study analyzes the in vitro activities of levofloxacin and other commonly used antimicrobials against middle ear fluid, nasopharyngeal, and oropharyngeal pathogens obtained from children with otitis media at risk of having a resistant pathogen. Levofloxacin proved to be very active against these pathogens and had intermediate activity against Streptococcus pyogenes.